Dūnhuáng Shílù 燉煌實錄
Veritable Records of Dunhuang by 劉昺
About the work
Dūnhuáng Shílù 燉煌實錄 (also titled Liú Bǐng Dūnhuáng Shílù 劉昺燉煌實錄) is a jíyìběn reconstruction of a lost regional chronicle of Dūnhuáng 燉煌 (modern Dunhuang, Gānsù), the great oasis city at the western edge of the Chinese cultural sphere. The author, Liú Bǐng 劉昺 (styled Yánmíng 延明), was a prominent scholar-official of the Běi Liáng 北涼 and later the Northern Wei. The reconstruction preserves approximately 400 lines.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source. This is a jíyìběn reconstruction.
Abstract
Liú Bǐng was one of the most learned scholars of the Sixteen Kingdoms period, a historian-poet who served under Jǔqú Méngxùn 沮渠蒙遜 of Běi Liáng and, after the Northern Wei conquest of 439, was employed at the Northern Wei court. He is also credited with compiling the Liáng Shū 涼書 (a separate lost history). The Dūnhuáng Shílù was a local chronicle of Dūnhuáng, which under Běi Liáng was a major center of Buddhist monasticism (the Mogao Caves 莫高窟 were being excavated at this very time) and a key node on the Silk Road.
The surviving fragments record local geography, notable personages, and historical events specific to the Dūnhuáng region. The shílù 實錄 (“veritable records”) format, more commonly associated with imperial annals from the Táng onward, was an early regional application of the annalistic method. The text was lost after the Táng; the fragments were retrieved from Táng and Sòng citations.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.